After struggling during the Sprint, Lando Norris and McLaren adjusted the settings of the MCL40 before qualifying. Changes sufficient to secure the pole position.
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A few hours were enough to reverse the trend for Lando Norris at Zandvoort. Only third in the Sprint after being overtaken by Charles Leclerc and threatened by Kimi Antonelli, the McLaren driver bounced back in qualifying to take pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Norris set a time of 1’11″163 on his final attempt, beating George Russell by 0″102. This is the 18th pole position of his career and his second since his world title, which allows him to equal Mario Andretti, René Arnoux, and Kimi Räikkönen in Formula 1 statistics.
A performance the Briton did not necessarily expect after the difficulties encountered a few hours earlier.
“It really couldn’t go better, so I’m a bit surprised, to be honest, Norris admitted. It was simply a decent lap. I was pushing because you can see how close the gaps are. Every hundredth or two hundredths can make a big difference in the end.”
McLaren had to “try something”
After the Sprint, Norris had given a particularly pessimistic assessment of his car’s weaknesses, especially in slow corners. He even felt there was not much to do to eliminate them completely.
The reopening of parc fermé between the Sprint and qualifying nevertheless gave McLaren the opportunity to adjust the MCL40’s settings.
“We had to try something because what we had before wouldn’t have been enough,” Norris explains. “We made a few small changes. Nothing that would gain us two tenths, or even one tenth, but enough to maybe give me a bit more confidence.”
The Briton therefore insists that McLaren did not suddenly find a significant amount of performance. The modifications mainly allowed the driver to feel more confident with his car.
Read more Kimi Antonelli frustrated after his mistake at Zandvoort: «I had a real chance to get pole»
Confidence, a decisive factor at Zandvoort
On a circuit as fast and demanding as Zandvoort, this extra confidence made the difference. The many fast corners and small margins for error require drivers to be able to attack without hesitation.
“On a circuit like Zandvoort, you have to have a lot of confidence in the car and be able to attack. I felt that I could do that more today and it paid off.”
Norris also wanted to highlight the work done by McLaren between the two sessions.
“It was a nice turnaround compared to this morning, when I felt we were struggling a bit. We felt really solid. The team did a good job trying to extract a bit more from the car, and that clearly helped me.”
Norris reverses roles with Russell
The day had started with Russell ahead of Norris on the front row of the Sprint. On Sunday, the two Britons will find themselves in the same positions, but in reverse order.
The Mercedes driver, winner of the Sprint, remains a serious threat after missing pole by only 0″102. Kimi Antonelli will start just behind them in third position.
After having felt a few hours earlier that the characteristics of Zandvoort exposed the weaknesses of his McLaren, Norris has therefore managed to extract enough performance over one lap to take the advantage. Now it remains to be seen if the changes will also allow the MCL40 to better resist over the 72 laps of the Grand Prix.
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